Improvement in letter-boxes



JOHN A. FBRINGTON. Improvement in Letter Boxes. N0.1.2o,578.

Patented Novl 7,1871

l M@ F 4UNITED STATES JOHN A. FARRINGTON, OF BROOKLYN,

NEW Yonxnssreivoia, BY MEsnEAs- SIGNMENT, TO HMSELF, E. PABKE COBY, AND ISAAC GOLES.

IMPROVEMENT IN LETTER-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 120,578, dated November 7, 1871.

To att 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. FARRINGTON, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Letter and Newspaper-Box for Lamp- Posts 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this speciiication, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention has for its object to provide a letter and newspaper-box, to be secured to a lamp-post or in any other suitable position and location, constructed and arranged in such a manner as to receive both letters and newspapers, and effectually prevent the possibility of any person, except the proper official, abstracting the content-s therefrom; also, to construct the door, through which the letters and papers are removed, in such a manner that it will serve as a shelf, on which to sort the letters and papers when taken from the box by the official. This invention consists in providing a series of re-` volving shelves within the upper portion of the box, which said shelves are secured to a shaft having bearings in the end of the box, and which receive the newspapers l,and tip them upon a curved guard fitted to the line of motion of the circumference of the revolving shelves, from whence they drop into the body of the box. It also consists, in combination with the above, in securing to each end of the door a ange in the form of a quadrant, provided with -a iiange or projection that tits against the end of the box and holds the door in a nearly-horizontal position when open, which forms a vertical support for the letters and papers while being sorted.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed more particularly to describe its construction and operation.

Figure lrepresents a side elevation of my improved box, with the door open. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same taken through the line X X.

A represents the main body of the box, which may be made of any of the well-known metals suitable for the purpose, and of convenient proportions and dimensions. It is intended to be secured to a street lamp-post, or in any other suitable position for receiving letters and newspapers. B is a slot or opening for receiving newspapers, located at the upper portion of the box A, and provided with a lid or cover, C, for the purpose of preventing rain or snow from entering through the same into the interior of the box, which said lid or cover is hinged to the box in any suitable manner, as seen at a. D D D D are revolving shelves, which extend nearly the whole length of the box, and upon which the newspapers fall when dropped through the slot B. One edge of each of these shelves is rigidly secured, longitudinally, to a horizontal shaft, E, having bearings on the ends of the box, while the other edge is free to move by the weight of the newspaper when dropped upon it. F is a curved guard, fitted to the line of motion of the outer edges of the revolving shelves, above described, and secured to the front of the box, upon which said guard the papers are deposited by the revolving shelves in their descent, and from which they drop into the lower portion of the box. The lower edge of this guard extends to nearly the center of the box, as seen in Fig. 2. G is a slot or opening for receiving letters, located underneath the guard F, and provided with a lid or cover, H, which latter is hinged to the box A in a similar manner to the one above described. 1 is a door, located at one end of the box, through which the letters and papers are taken from the box by the person authorized to collect the same. This door is hinged to the box at its lower edge, so that when it is open it forms a sort of shelf, upon which the letters and papers may be laid for sorting; and on each end of the same is provided a flange, J, in the form of a quadrant, which serves as a vertical support for the letters and papers while they are being sorted. On one edge of these flanges J is aprojection, b, which lits against the end of the box when the door is open and holds the latter in a nearly horizontal position. This door is provided 4 with a lock, (not shown in the drawing,) the key to which is carried by the ocial authorized to collect the letters.

When a newspaper is dropped through the slot B it falls upon one of the shelves D, which, by the w eight of the paper, immediately descends and deposits the paper upon the guard F, from whence it drops into thelower portion of the box. If the paper should happen to lodge 011 the guard it will be pushed 0E by the next adjoining shelf when it descends.

It will be seen that the position of the shelves and guard is such thatneither the hand nor any instrument can be inserted into the box, and that the letters cannot be abstracted therefrom7 except by some official provided With the key and duly authorized to collect the same.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

The combination and arrangement of the openings B and G for the reception of papers and letters, provided With doors or covers (J and H, the door I, the revolving shelves D D D D, curved guard F With the main box A, when constructed as shown and described.

JOHN A. FARRINGTON.

C. ROGERS. (146) 

